Philip Morris' new scientific initiative: an analysis

In the fall of 2000, Philip Morris re-initiated an external research grants programme ("Philip Morris External Research Program", or PMERP), the first since the dissolution of the Council for Tobacco Research (CTR) and the Ce nter for Indoor Air Research (CIAR). The ostensible purpose of the programm e is to help develop cigarette designs "that might reduce the health risk o f smoking". Internal company documents also indicate that Philip Morris urg ently seeks to restore its scientific "credibility", as part of a "new open ness" in relation to the external community. The structure of the review pa nel-a cohort of external peer reviewers, a science advisory board, and an i nternal, anonymous review and approvals committee-is nearly identical to th at of the CIAR. The majority of the named reviewers have had previous affil iation with the tobacco industry either as reviewers or grantees, but only a minority have done research directly on tobacco or smoking. The programma tic substance of the PMERP could be interpreted as soliciting exculpatory e vidence with respect to smoking and exposure to smoke. We remain sceptical about the scientific integrity of PMERP.